1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates in general to a method and apparatus for content selection of a network-based multimedia reproduction system, and more particularly to a method for virtual channel management and a network-based multimedia reproduction system with virtual channel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Transmitting videos via the broadband Internet is currently a prevalent alternative way for watching videos or television programs. To play an Internet video or browse Internet TV in a smart television, a corresponding application, which has its own user interface and way of providing contents, needs to be pre-installed or installed by a user.
Such kind of televisions are generally designed based on the ways for operating applications in personal computers so that a user for merely selecting desired contents has to look at a screen and operate a remote controller in a careful manner similar to that on a personal computer. In addition, with diversified contents and types provided by the Internet, a relaxed atmosphere of enjoying watching the television as originally intended may instead turn out to be serious and complicated. In this way, such a television causes difficulties of usage in a family or group and fails to satisfy the needs of different users, for example, those who are unfamiliar with operating a computer.
Further, the programs on the television channels are arranged by the providers, and if a user is interested in a specific topic, the user has to switch among different channels to find ones that the user wants. When the program finishes, the next program to be played may not be relevant to the topic interested, the user has to switch manually, leading to inflexibility and inconvenience in operations during viewing programs.